Nor was he too impressed about waiting over a month to see if it would
actually come to fruition.

“I thought I handled it pretty well,” said the Edmonton Oilers defenceman.

“I was trying hard not to think about it. I was just waiting to see what was
going to happen. It sucked, but I was just trying to relax back in the Czech
Republic, spend some time with my family and try not worry about it.”

Smid, Andrew Cogliano and Dustin Penner were traded to the Ottawa Senators
this summer for Dany Heatley, pending the star’s approval. That approval
never came despite the Oilers best efforts, leaving the three twisting in
the wind.

Eventually the Oilers got tired of trying to convince Heatley to come to
Edmonton and the trade fell through.

“I talked to Cogs (Cogliano) and he was devastated,” Smid said. “It was just
weird to see our names out there. Usually someone calls you and tells you
that you got traded. But sitting there and not knowing whether you got
traded or not is different. It took a really long time, it took almost a
month before Heatley decided whether he was going to come to another team.”

Heatley claimed he wanted options and, despite asking for a trade out of
Ottawa due to his perceived diminishing role, wasn’t impressed the only deal
the Senators were able to work out was with the Oilers.

Heatley’s refusal to waive his no-trade clause and come to Edmonton was good
news for Smid.

“I’m just really happy that it worked out like that and I could stay here
and play with the Oilers,” Smid said.

“I feel good here, I bought a house a
couple of years ago and it would be hard for me to move somewhere else. My
life is pretty much here.”

Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini, upset word of the parties involved
in the deal got out, eventually called his young defenceman.

“He called and apologized,” Smid said. “I guess it wasn’t their fault, but
he apologized to me and I talked to (head coach) Pat Quinn as well, so that
helped my confidence a little bit.”